"Last Spring there was a crisis, which was not a crisis." This sentence is not a quote from the novel in 1984, but a sentence that was pronounced on a consular information evening at the Dutch embassy. I was listening to a story about the threat of North Korea and what to do in a crisis in a room full of Dutch exchange students, some housewives and two pitchers of water.

When asked why we were attending this meeting, a student answered what we were all thinking about: "We hoped that there would be some Dutch snacks." Apparently, the Dutch also do not adapt to living abroad. A fact that was reinforced by the time of the meeting, because at 17.00 it was impossible for people with a job to participate. After an observation by one of the speakers at the meeting "that it was a quarter to six already" and he wanted to end the meeting, I suddenly found myself back in the Netherlands. Even the weather was cloudy and rainy all week and only the Korean crisis subject of the meeting reminded me where I really was.

One of the speakers explained the statement about the crisis that was not a crisis as a crisis in the media outside South Korea, while there was actually very little to worry about. A beautiful illustration of this, was the story of a reporter from a major broadcaster from the Dutch news. Disappointed after it became clear that he couldn't get a local in a state of terror in front of his camera, this reporter returned to the Netherlands. There was not one person panicking over the situation in North Korea. It was perfectly clear that the North Korean dictator would not attack. For he desperately needed South Korea's money for his new-to-build ski resort.

If the next time such a crisis really occurs, I am responsible for my own safety, I was told. Due to the complicated process of other EU countries being involved in dealing with such a crisis, the Dutch embassy does very little on its own. The embassy hopes that people leave at their own initiative when it gets too hairy. It is not certain that a KLM aircraft will be send when the situation gets out of hand so it is entirely possible that you will be stuck in Korea if you can't get away in time. If you have a problem with this approach then you better move back to The Netherlands, which was beautifully summed up in the phrase: "If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen."

A bleached blond housewife took offense to such a stance, which triggered her to ask questions in sake of asking questions. Then the discussion started all over again, and even landed on the subject, to the disbelief of many, of the euthanasia of her dog in wartime. For a moment I found myself back on a council meeting on dog poop I once had to preside over.

At half past seven the meeting was wrapped up and I talked a bit with the speakers, while a few of the students were begging for internships at the embassy. 10 minutes later I was standing outside with no snacks, cookies or coffee. If a pitcher of water is the only thing that the Dutch government can offer their guests, I think I will stay here, despite the ski ambitions the dictator in the North still has.